Global Health
Leadership Office

International Scholars: AIDS International Training & Research Program (AITRP)

About AITRP

The AIDS International Training & Research Program (AITRP) of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is funded by the John E. Fogarty International Center under the auspices of the National Institute of Health (NIH). The program also receives supplementary funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).

UIC AITRP is designed to build long-term scientific capacities that help to address the AIDS epidemic in China, Chile, Indonesia, and Malawi. UIC AITRP involves collaboration between the UIC School of Public Health, the UIC College of Nursing, and key institutional participants in the four countries. The collaborating partners overseas are Peking University, The Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, The University of Malawi and The University of Indonesia.

We have chosen to focus on the countries of China, Indonesia, Malawi and Chile as training sites because of the gravity of the AIDS epidemic in each area, the need for clinical and behavioral science research to meet this increasing need and the presence of existing collaborative relationships with institutional partners that help to build a sustained research infrastructure in each country.

Although the program targets four specific countries, the program will have sufficient flexibility to expand into other countries in nearby regions both in terms of trainee recruitment and research opportunities. The program is innovative in that it is the only AITRP with nursing and public health as collaborating partners. Thus, in terms of providing opportunities for research and training, it is able to combine the primary health care expertise of nursing with the multidisciplinary prevention focus of public health and the clinical practice of medicine.